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On or about 06.10.1992, a complaint was filed by the respondent- Union about the violation of the terms of the said settlement, alleging unfair labour practices as contained in Item Nos. 1(a) and 4(g) of the Second Schedule and Item Nos.6 and 9 of the Fourth Schedule appended to the said Act. A prayer for payment of the same wages as are paid to the permanent workmen of the company as also a declaration that the said workmen had become the permanent workmen of the company from their respective dates of joining or with effect from 01.02.1991, was also made. The appellant denied and disputed that it had committed any unfair labour practice.
NOW THIS SETTLEMENT WITNESS AS FOLLOWS This settlement shall cover all terms and conditions of service of various categories of permanent workmen and shall apply to all permanent workmen (hereinafter referred to as "workmen") who are on the rolls of the Company as on 31st December, 1990 at the Company's Head Office and other Factories, establishments situated at Bombay and Thane.
"Year" means from 1st of January to 31st December of any year."

Under the heading 'Code of Conduct', it provided that the Code of Conduct shall operate concurrently with the Company's Standing Orders and not in derogation thereof. The said Code of Conduct was evolved to repress the hardship arising out of the implementation of the Standing Orders.

It is, however, not in dispute that the establishment had its own certified standing orders.

INTERPRETATION OF TERMS OF SETTLEMENT :

The preamble of the settlement refers to the Charter of Demands served upon the appellant on 27.02.1989 in respect of the shop floor and office of the company situated at Thane and Parel relating to wage scale, classification, dearness allowance, leave facilities, leave travel allowance, transports etc. Supplementary demands were also raised. The parties reached a package settlement covering the service conditions and terms of employment applicable to the workmen at Thane and Head Office. The said settlement was to cover all terms and conditions of service of various categories of permanent workmen; and was to apply to all permanent workmen who were on the rolls of the company as on 31.12.1990. The said Memorandum of Settlement, indisputably, was entered into on 29.04.1991.
In this case, whether the period of probation was three months or six months is not of much significance; as the workmen had been kept on probation by an order dated 01.05.1991 with retrospective effect from 01.02.1991. Evidently they were, thus, entitled to the status of permanent workmen on completion of six months' period if not three months. They were kept on probation till 1996 and, thus, they had admittedly completed the period of six months. Once they had successfully completed the period of probation, they were entitled to the status of permanent workmen, the consequences whereof would be that they became entitled to all the benefits and privileges in terms of the settlement as permanent employees.